Energy applications

Here activities regarding the design of electrical machines and drives for energy applications are collected.
An example is the study of corrective actions in a Direct-drive permanent magnet (PM) generator for wind turbines in production with a power of 1.5 MW (500,000 Nm), which presented unsustainable rotor losses caused by the airgap field harmonics.
Other direct-drive or with low ratio gearbox PM wind generators have been designed, with power in the range from 50 to 500 kW. The Laboratory has been involved in the design of direct-drive wind turbines PM generators with powers spanning in the range from 3 to 6 MW, under a National project called Industria 2015.
Remaining in the field of wind energy, a sensorless control for wound rotor induction generators has been developed for a company in the field of wind power generation (also for hydroelectric applications). The rotor position is estimated by measuring the electrical quantities at the terminals of the machine and it allows a proper setting of the produced active and reactive power without the use of transducers on the shaft.